


Krayt's Bargain

by ArdentAspen2, Mirianne



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Tatooine Culture, Tatooine fairy tale, references to Vader's ongoing poor health, references to slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-07 22:39:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12242001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArdentAspen2/pseuds/ArdentAspen2, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirianne/pseuds/Mirianne
Summary: With his life on the line, Luke tricks Vader into a bargain before allowing his father to save him.  That bargain has more implications than either of them first realized, and they have to deal with the results.As do some friends and allies.





	1. Where it Begins

**Author's Note:**

> ArdentAspen2 posted the first chapter of this as a prompt on Tumblr. I then spent the next couple of months writing the rest, so my thanks for a fun project.

The next blast shook the mining facility, and the duel halted abruptly as both combatants struggled to keep their footing. Ultimately, the smaller of the two lost his balance, and Luke Skywalker pitched over the railing of the rapidly collapsing walkway with a startled cry. His fingers barely caught the edge of a crane tipping precariously towards the molten metal far below, but his grip was tenuous.

Then there was a hand reaching down for him, an unsettling echo of another duel that seemed both too recent to bear and yet a lifetime ago.

“Luke,” Darth Vader knelt at the edge of the walkway, “take my hand.”

But what did that entail? Luke did not want to die, but would this be a kind of surrender, allowing the dark lord to save him?

“I…don’t think…” he tried to voice his thoughts and failed.

“Luke!” Vader stretched out his hand, sounding almost desperate. Well, Luke supposed a little concern was appropriate and vastly overdue, if the man was really his father. “Take my hand,” Vader repeated.  “I will not let you fall.”

After a heartbeat, Luke asked in a very small voice, “You promise?”

“I promise,” his father answered.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Luke gulped, then swung one arm up to where Vader could catch hold of it and draw him back onto the walkway.

And Vader came to the stark realization that there had been double meaning in the boy’s words, spoken not in Basic but in a language still used in secret on Tatooine, when the Hutts could not hear. And rashly he had entered into a pact not easily broken.

_I will not let you fall_ , he had said. 

Clever boy.


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The immediate aftermath of the pact.

When Luke was safely back on the walkway, Vader hustled them back to more stable ground before he let go of the boy.  Luke hunched forward, breathing hard, and Vader watched, hands clasped at his back.  Even if Luke didn’t trust the bargain he’d tricked Vader into, didn’t trust Vader to keep his word, Vader had both lightsabers, having summoned Luke’s before it could be lost.  The boy was less likely to leave without getting his back.

For the moment, Vader was content merely to study his son, to confirm that the boy hadn’t fallen, hadn’t burned as he had more than twenty years ago.

Old injuries that never stopped hurting flared with fresh pain, reminded of what burning alive felt like.

“Thank you, Father.”

“For pulling you up or for the promise?” he asked, though the vocoder didn’t transmit the wry amusement he felt.

Luke blushed and looked away.  “I should go.  Can I have my lightsaber back?”

“And where is it you intend to go?”

“Back to my ship?”

“I don’t think so.”

The boy stiffened, and his hand grasped for a lightsaber Vader hadn’t yet returned.  “You promised—!”

“Precisely.  I gave my word I would not let you Fall.  Not merely that I would not  _cause_  your Fall—that I would not let it happen.  How do you intend me to prevent it if I am not there?  Do you wish to see me foresworn, young one?”

Luke stared up at him with wide eyes, eyes Vader knew were blue, though he couldn’t see the color.  “But—”

“Not what you intended, I’m certain.  You should know better than to make a krayt’s bargain, young one.  They never turn out quite as you expect.”

Helpless, Luke laughed.  “And you the krayt.”

Vader didn’t think comparing Tatooine’s dragons and the Sith would help this situation, so he refrained.  “I have no intention of making you dinner.  Or any of the other fates served to teach the greedy a lesson.  But we do need to talk.  I spent my childhood on Tatooine, just as you did, and I consider that pact binding.  As you hoped I would.”

“But surely the pact is fulfilled if I just stay away from you or Palpatine?  You’re the one who’s been pushing me to Fall, and I guess Palpatine would as well, but that should be easily avoided.”

“A Sith is not the only possible cause of a Fall.  There are other possibilities.  More, if I do not bring you to my master, he will send other agents to do so, and if I am not there to prevent them, I will have broken the pact.  Truce, young one.  Let us go somewhere we can discuss the situation your krayt’s bargain has landed us in.”  He offered his son’s lightsaber.  A gesture of good faith, much as he feared it was one less thing to hold the child there.

Slowly, Luke reached out and took the ‘saber.  “Thank you, Father.  Again.  I guess I can accept that truce, if I have your word you won’t restrain me.”

“You have it.”  He turned and stalked back through the empty mining facility, relieved to leave it behind and step into his shuttle.  That fight had been far too reminiscent of Mustafar—and had nearly cost his son the same price he’d paid or worse.

Against the cost of seeing his son burn as he had, Vader thought even the bargain he’d made light in exchange.  But he would not be foresworn.  Luke had bound him to this pact, so Luke would have to live with the results.

Since the shuttle remained empty but for him for long moments, only his sense of his son in the Force convinced him that Luke hadn’t left, in spite of their truce.  But Luke could not hide, not from him.  Perhaps not from Palpatine, either.

Something that  _would_  have to change, if Luke was to survive the Emperor without Falling.  Vader had thought the Dark side was his son’s best, perhaps only, chance.  Now, he would have to find another.  Or  _make_  one.

_I have no intention of taking off the second you step aboard, young one.  It is simply the place where I can best ensure privacy.  If I am to prevent your Fall, privacy is far more important than you realize._

_Krayt’s bargain or not, truce or not, I’m_ trusting _you, Father._   And Luke stepped aboard.

“I realize that, child.  Sit down.  I think before we speak further, I have explanations you need to hear.”  Explanations that wouldn’t be easy to give.  But when Luke sat down, he resolved to try.  “I have known Palpatine since I was nine years old.  He was a mentor, someone I trusted.  When he told me he could help save your mother, I believed him.  He is skilled at preying on the weaknesses and fears of those he manipulates.  He did not come to power in a violent coup.  Instead, he convinced the Galaxy to support him when he transitioned the Republic to an Empire, because the Republic had  _failed_.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because as much as my attempts to convince you to accept the Dark side horrified you, I was straightforward.  Palpatine will not be.  Even Jedi masters were manipulated by him, pushed to the edge of Falling.   _You_  will need to do better than they did.  Better than I did.  And you will need to be strong enough that I am convinced you can survive even without the Dark side.”

“ _That’s_  why you wanted me to Fall?  Not so you’d have an apprentice, so I’d survive?”

“You are my son, my child.  Does it so surprise you I wish to be sure you would be safe?”

“After Bespin?”

For a moment, there was something so fragile in Luke’s expression, and Vader suppressed a flinch, hoped Luke hadn’t sensed it.  “I concede the point, child.  Nevertheless, it was my motivation.  I care more for my family’s lives than for who rules this Galaxy.  I always have.”

“So your offer to work together to destroy Palpatine was sincere.”

“It was.  I handled Bespin badly.”  It stung to admit that, but he  _needed_  to convince the stubborn child to work with him.  “My master had just learned of your identity and ordered me to capture you and turn you.  If he had you, I feared he would destroy you.  I acted in haste and fear rather than with proper thought.”

Luke rubbed his wrist and somehow met Vader’s eyes through the mask.  Vader could sense the boy reaching into the Force to judge him, his honesty, and his intentions.  He made no attempt to shield.  “All right,” the boy said slowly.  “I guess I can understand that.  What do you want to happen now?”

Vader wanted to sigh.  The child was impossible.  “I want to ensure you are trained to a level that you will be able to resist my master’s manipulations  _and_  survive against him.  Since you have taken the Dark side from the options available, I will have to train you in the Light side.  As a Jedi, as that is my background.”  Much as he hated to acknowledge it.  More, he’d have to train his son into a Jedi Master, a rank  _he’d_  never achieved.

“But I already  _have_  a teacher.  One who can train me—!”  Luke cut off, pale.

Moving with careful deliberation, Vader sat down across from his son.  “I know every Jedi, however little they deserve the title, involved with your Rebellion.  You would not be so confident in any of them, nor could they have taught you the skills you have shown, both at Bespin and today.”  His eyes were narrowed as he considered.

“Ben’s ghost visits me!”

“Indeed?”  That carried the sense of truth, however unbelievable, and irritating, Vader found it, but.  “I am quite familiar with Obi-Wan’s training methods, young one.”  He closed his eyes for a moment, fighting to avoid the answer that had occurred to him.  “Yoda,” he said, and even the vocoder could not strip all the animosity from his voice.  “You’ve seen  _Yoda_.”  He didn’t have to look at his son to know he was right; the sense of the Luke in the Force screamed it.  Luke’s expression merely confirmed it.

Luke shot to his feet.  “If you so much as threaten him, our truce is void!” he snapped.

“Very well,” Vader said, trying not to grit his teeth.  He took a deep breath and for the first time in years, tried to draw calm from the Force.  It was shaky, tentative, but enough.  “This works to our advantage, actually.  I cannot disappear from my duties for an extended period without my master setting the entire Empire to hunt for me.  If Yoda still lives, I will establish the two of you somewhere my master will not look.  He can train you when I cannot be there.  Where is he?”

Luke folded his arms and lifted his chin.  “We haven’t agreed to  _anything_  yet, Father!”

“What do you want, then?  This is your pact.”  Vader was all too aware that he was the only one bound by the pact; he couldn’t push too hard.  Luke was here because he didn’t want to force Vader to break the pact he’d been tricked into; if Vader pushed too hard, the boy would stop caring.  “You know I cannot go with you if you wish to return to your Rebellion, my son.”

Luke flinched but nodded.  “I guess not.  But I can’t abandon Leia.  Besides, I promised to help rescue Han.”

“Child…”

“I gave my word, Father.  Or do you want  _me_  to be foresworn?”

“No.”  He took a deep breath.  “If I assist in retrieving your precious Captain Solo, will you agree?”

He had the boy then, he knew, but Luke didn’t agree immediately.  “I have conditions.”

“Naturally.”   _Impossible_ child.

“Yoda is safe.  I want your word.”

“You have it.”  The promise choked him, but he made it.

“I won’t be a prisoner.  I can leave if I choose to.”

“Child.”

“ _Father_.”

“Very well, but I would ask that you speak with me before you leave, even if it is only for a short trip.”

“Fair enough.  Leia, Han, and Chewie get safe passage.  They can come visit.  Whatever safe place you intend to have me stay in, it’s safe for them, too.”

“Done, but I expect them to abide by the rules of visiting a krayt’s lair.”

Courtesy and caution of binding promises.

“I’ll do my best.  They might insult you, but they won’t attack you.”

“That will do, then.  Have we a bargain?”

Luke met Vader’s eyes squarely, the mask apparently no hindrance, and took a deep breath.  He held out his hands, palms down.  Vader held out his palm up, and Luke placed his on top.  Their gazes still holding, Vader closed his hands around his son’s smaller ones.  How appropriate, to seal the agreement in true Tatooine fashion after making a krayt’s bargain.

For all that Vader was the one constrained by that pact, there was no question who was the krayt between them.

“I’m trusting you, Father,” Luke said again.  He took another deep breath.  “Yoda is on Dagobah.”

“Then that is our destination.”


	3. The Old Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Vader still have to deal with the pact they made. This time with added Yoda.

The closer they got to Dagobah, the more Luke’s agitation grew.  Vader could sense it but had no idea how to ease it.

Luke was pacing the nondescript ship they were flying rather than their fighters.  “Sit down, child.  Pacing will not change anything.”

At that, Luke stopped pacing long enough to stare at Vader.  “Coming from you, I’m pretty sure that’s hypocritical advice.”  Half a smile curved his lips after another moment.  “Even if you have a point.”

 _I have no ill intentions for Yoda.  Much as I dislike him, he will come to no harm at my hands._   Perhaps hearing it through the Force, through the kin bond they shared, would be more convincing.

“I believe you.”  Luke laughed a little.  “Maybe I’m crazy for it, but I believe you.  I still gave away his location.  Months, I’ve been back with the Rebellion, and I haven’t said a thing to them.  But I told you.   _You_  of all people.  Even if I got your promise first, it’s still betrayal.  In a choice between you and him, I chose you.  He’ll know that.  He warned me about going to Bespin.”

Though Vader wanted to flinch at the reference to that disaster, he pushed it aside.  “I am your father, child.  It is a natural choice.”

“We’re on opposite sides of a war.  Not so natural,  _Father_.”

The boy had a point, much as Vader disliked it.  “As betrayals go, I think Yoda will be far more focused on mine.”  From the way Luke paled, that reassurance was not as well-received as Vader had hoped.  He sighed as much as his respirator allowed.  “Child, Yoda has never liked me, but I do not think he will judge you too harshly for the decision you made.”

The proximity alert went off, and they both returned to the cockpit.  Vader took the controls, but Luke was the one giving him directions on where to go.

Vader felt his scars strain as his lips twisted in displeasure at the swamp Luke guided him to, and he reached out into the Force to find solid ground to set down on.

“I suggest you wait on the ship, child.”

When Luke rolled his eyes, Vader wanted to sigh.

“You know that isn’t going to happen, Father.”

“Stubborn child.”

“Pretty sure I come by that  _honestly_.”

That, Vader couldn’t argue.  Both Luke’s parents were stubborn.  And neither of them would have stayed on the ship, either.

So they walked down the ship’s ramp together.  Yoda had hobbled out of his hut, leaning heavily on his gimer stick.  He watched them come, making no attempt to reach for a weapon.  In the Force, the Jedi master felt  _old_  in a way he never had, even in the midst of the violence and chaos of the Clone Wars.  Old, tired, and sick.  Safe behind his mask, Vader rolled his eyes.  Was he to be responsible for helping one of the Jedi he hated most?

“So, come, you have.  Young Skywalker, Lord Vader.  My death, do you seek?”

“Don’t start, old Jedi,” Vader snapped.  “You can sense perfectly well  _my son_  has not Fallen.”

“Then why come here have you?  Bring you he did.  Hidden I have been for many years.”

Luke scrubbed a hand over his face.  “I tricked Father into a pact, what is known on Tatooine as a krayt’s bargain, and found myself nearly as bound as he is as a result.  As part of that, he gave his word you would be safe.  I’m sorry, Yoda.  Even if it may well help, this didn’t work out as I intended.”

“Bargains with a krayt seldom do,” Vader pointed out.  

“Wise to bargain with a Sith it is not.  Trustworthy they are not.”

“ _Master_  Yoda, I mean you no harm at this time.  As my child said, I am bound by our pact.”

“An Oathbreaker you are, Lord Vader.  Many times your vows as a Jedi you broke.  Even your vows to your wife you broke.”

That hit hard, as Vader was sure Yoda intended.

Luke had blanched, but he shook his head.  “He isn’t lying.  He promised not to let me Fall, and he intends to keep his word.  A krayt’s bargain isn’t something you break.  Not if you’re from Tatooine.  Much as he hates the entire planet, Father still spent years of his childhood there.”

Vader shook his head.  He’d never told Luke that.  “He is correct.  Luke is sensitive to the Force in a way I have never seen before, even from the great Jedi before the Empire.  He  _knows_.  He would know if I lied.”

“Then your intentions what are they?”

“I need Luke to be strong enough to survive the Emperor without Falling if I am not to be foresworn.  I will train him as I can— _without_ the Dark side, before you accuse me.  I have trained a Padawan before, as I am certain you remember.  But I cannot be absent for extended periods without attracting the Emperor’s interest.  Luke is not yet ready to stand against my master.  As I have few options,  _you_  will do as a substitute when I cannot be present.”

“Fa-ather,” Luke protested.

Again, Vader rolled his eyes.  “Pretending amicability with the old Jedi was not part of our bargain, child, and he would not believe it if I tried.”

“Indeed,” Yoda said.  “Prefer, I do, his honesty.”

For a long moment, Yoda merely leaned on his gimer stick and studied them both.  “Very well,” he said at last.  “Come with you, I shall.  Trust you, I do not,” he warned.  “Our best hope for peace your son is.  Fallen you are, Anakin Skywalker.”

Vader’s fists clenched.  The sound of his birth name, the name his mother had given him, burned when Yoda said it.

“Fallen you will always be.”

Luke flinched.  “I don’t know if that’s true,” he started.

“That is a topic for another time,” Vader said sharply.  “If you are coming, old Jedi, come.”

Yoda returned to his hut for a moment and came out with a small case under his arm.  He hobbled slowly up the ramp of the ship, and Vader resigned himself to delivering the Jedi to medical as soon as they arrived at the hidden estate where he planned to establish his son.

Aboard the ship, Vader retreated to the cockpit and left Yoda to his son, though he did it with ill grace.  Still, he left the hatch open and half-listened to an explanation of what a krayt’s bargain was to those from Tatooine and of what had occurred in the mining facility that had led to this point.

Eventually, Yoda sent Luke off to sleep, something Vader grudgingly agreed with.  His stubborn child had gotten little rest on the way to Dagobah.  Once that argument was over and Luke had vanished into a cabin, Yoda hobbled into the cockpit.

“Foresee this I did not.”

“I expect you saw the outcome of Bespin as either Luke’s death or his Fall.  He chose death then and was fortunate enough to survive it, mainly thanks to the quality of his allies.  He would have chosen death again this time had I not agreed to his bargain.  I value my son’s life more highly than that.  It is said on Tatooine that to break a bargain with a krayt risks the loss of everything the bargain offered.  It may be mere superstition, but I will not risk my son’s life to it.  The bargain I made binds me, and Luke is enough his mother’s son to use it to bind my actions further.”

“Sense truth in your words I do, even if Fallen you are.  Difficult to believe this remains.”

“I’m sure,” Vader said dryly.

“Pleased your master will not be.”

“I do realize that.  I have served him for more than twenty years.  My son is more important.  He will never be safe as long as Palpatine lives.  His only chance while my master survives would be to Fall and take my place.  Now, I can no longer arrange that.”

“Your plan it was?”

“When he rejected my offer on Bespin, I saw no other possible outcome.  He is the one that has changed that.”

“Proud of him you are.”

That, Vader wouldn’t answer.  It was taking most of his self-control, along with his shaky hold on calm from the Force, to converse with Yoda so calmly.

“Your first pact so rashly entered into this is not.”

Vader took as deep a breath as his respirator and ruined lungs allowed him.  It was not as deep as that comment required, so he did it again before he spoke.  “If you think I don’t realize that—!”  Two breaths hadn’t been enough.  He took two more, trying to settle his temper before it woke his sleeping son and brought the ridiculous child out to investigate.  “I made a mistake when I put my faith in my master,” he said slowly, the words only clear through his vocoder’s efforts.  Admitting that, to Yoda of all beings,  _hurt_  worse than Sidious’s punishments.

But Yoda only nodded.  “Both Fallen and an Oathbreaker you are.  Trust you I will not.  Trust your son, however, I will.  A chance I will give this arrangement.”

“Done.”


	4. Contact and Choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing on to Vader’s estate, first contact with a certain princess, and Vader makes an important decision.

The estate Vader had selected was on a sparsely populated planet in the Outer Rim, near both Naboo and Tatooine.  It was secluded but a location where he seldom spent much time unless his temper was worse than usual or his health was approaching crisis.

And of necessity, it had a very well-equipped medical center, something he could thank both his former master and his current for.  The center was staffed by top of the line medical droids.  It would be enough for Yoda if anything could be, though the old master protested when Vader pointedly escorted him there.

Vader pointed at the small Jedi.  “You do not get to die while my son still needs you.  Get the medical care you need.  You have the time.  Luke is going to be contacting his friends.  He does not need you hovering over him while he does so.”  Reluctantly, he added, “I will not start training him without telling you.  Let the droids help you.”

Eventually, Yoda agreed, and Vader left the medical wing.  Then he went to find his son, even knowing his presence would probably be even less helpful than Yoda’s.  Luke’s light drew him in a way he hadn’t expected and didn’t quite understand, perhaps wasn’t willing to understand, but he followed it.

Even drawn that way, he kept a distance when he found his son in the communications room, the room he’d shown the boy and given him permission to use.  But Luke wasn’t using any of the communications options.  Instead, he sat before a station with his eyes closed.  A moment after Vader arrived in the doorway, Luke looked up at him.

“Have you already contacted your princess?”

“Not yet.  I wanted to talk to you first.  Is Yoda all right?”

“The medical droids are tending to him.  I do not know the details yet.”  He folded his arms, studied his son.  “What other promises do you want from me?”

Though Luke winced, he lifted his chin.  “Leia’s going to want to see me.  It should probably be somewhere neutral, since your bargain with me doesn’t mean you and she are allies.”

Vader rolled his eyes.  “I have no more desire for your Rebels to descend on my private retreat than you have to see the massacre that would likely result.  Since you wish to rescue your smuggler friend, Tatooine seems the obvious destination.  I will take you.  I do not need to return to my ship for a few more days.  What  _else_  do you want, child?”

Luke took a deep breath.  “Your word you won’t track the transmission.”

“You have it.  Your friends’ safety was part of the bargain we made.”

“Thanks.”  His shoulders relaxed.  “How secure is the transmission?  How much is it safe to say?”

“If your princess secures it on her end, it is fairly secure.  Those who can access  _my_  transmissions are rare.”

“All right.”  For a moment, Luke didn’t move.  Then he activated the secure comunit.

_Without_ asking Vader to leave the area.  Vader was surprised by the omission, but as long as his son didn’t ask him to go, he had no intention of doing so.  He was far enough away he couldn’t see the codes Luke entered, though he could always access the system later.  That, however, would go against their bargain.  Unless Luke was in danger, he wouldn’t do it.  He  _did_  hear the pass phrases Luke and the princess exchanged once they’d connected, but although Luke glanced at him, the boy made no effort to lower his voice.

Perhaps his interactions with Yoda had bought him some trust?  Vader wasn’t sure, but he hoped so.  If this was to work, the boy had to trust him at least a little.  At least enough to keep his word when bound to a pact.

Luke glanced at him while the princess moved to a secure area.   _I’m here, Father.  Doesn’t that say something already?_

_I suppose it does._

Smiling a little, Luke nodded.  Then the princess was back, and the boy turned his attention to negotiating with someone who was almost as stubborn as he was and less than pleased to learn that Luke wanted to change their whole plan for rescuing that irritating smuggler.

Especially when Luke refused to explain  _why_  he suddenly wanted to meet on Tatooine beyond that he had a new plan he thought would work.  

At last, she agreed to meet him on Tatooine in three days, with the Wookiee and the droids.  When they disconnected, Luke sagged back in his seat and rubbed his hands over his face.

“Are you all right?”  Vader was feeling an unexpected touch of guilt and wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“Give me a minute.”  His voice was muffled in his hands, and he made no attempt to move.  

Vader took a few cautious steps forward, not wanting to crowd the stubborn child but also genuinely concerned—an emotion he didn’t bother to shield.

Eventually, Luke looked up, met Vader’s eyes through his mask, and offered a small, shaky smile.  “I’m all right, Father.  Just—she isn’t happy now, but she’ll be more unhappy when she finds out the whole story.”

“Which you haven’t told her.”

“No.”  He sighed.

Tentatively, Vader reached out and rested a hand on his boy’s shoulder, alert to any sign the touch was unwelcome.  When Luke only leaned into the support, he relaxed a bit.

“No matter how secure the connection, this didn’t feel like something to say over a com line.”  He sighed again.  “She won’t react well no matter how I tell her, but if she can  _see_  that we’re working together,  _see_  that I’m not hurt, it might make a difference.  Especially if we’re offering to save Han.”

“Would the peace offering of already having saved him make a difference?  For me, it is as simple as walking into Jabba’s Palace and demanding he give me Solo.”

“Won’t that raise suspicion?  With the Emperor, I mean.”

“No.  Provided your smuggler stays out of sight, I can say that I took him as bait for you.”

Luke winced, and Vader started to withdraw his hand.  Luke reached up and grabbed it, holding it in place.  “I’m not upset with you,” he said.  “Well, not about that.  It’s a good plan, one with far less risk than what we were thinking.”

“If we get there a day ahead of her, it can be already taken care of when she arrives.  It might go some way to showing good intentions.”

Though Luke considered it for a long moment, he shook his head in the end.  “No.  She’d hate being left out of it even more.  It’s a solid plan, and I think I’ll probably be able to convince her to go along with it, but it has to be her decision.”

“Then it will be.  We are less than a day’s flight from Tatooine.  We have two days of training time before we leave.”

“It’ll give us a chance to find out how Yoda’s doing, too.”

Vader’s hand on Luke’s shoulder tightened without meaning to.

“Father?”

“I apologize.”  He forced his prosthetic to loosen its grip.

For a moment, Luke stared up at him with wide eyes.  Then the boy shook his head.  “I’m not leaving, Father.  You’ll be there with me on Tatooine, and I’ll come back here with you afterwards.  Whatever Yoda or Leia says about it.”

Unwilling though he was to admit it, part of Vader relaxed at Luke’s reassurance.

“What now?” the boy asked.

“You need to eat and rest if we’re to get any training accomplished tomorrow.  If you will come with me?”

Sitting at a table with his son and watching the boy eat was a surreal experience, partly for how normal it  _should_  have been, had their lives gone differently.  More, Vader could sense that the child wanted to ask him something but wasn’t sure of how he’d take it.  Guessing that the topic was his own health, Vader chose not to invite the question.  There would be another time for that.  Luke was exhausted.  Instead, Vader watched over Luke as he ate and escorted the boy to a suite of rooms across from his own after the meal.

Only when he sensed that the stubborn child had actually gone to sleep did Vader go to his own rooms across the hall.  They contained a hyperbaric chamber that was, at the moment, his best chance for what he needed to do next.

In truth, the hyperbaric chamber in the medical wing would be better suited for this; it was equipped for when his health was more precarious or compromised than usual, as this was the estate he often retreated to at such times.  The hyperbaric chamber in his rooms was a bit less complex, but it had the benefit of being farther from a certain old Jedi Master Vader would prefer to avoid.  Both because sensing Yoda would do nothing for his own temper and because the Dark side that was so much a part of him might actually set back Yoda’s healing.

So Vader went to the hyperbaric chamber in his rooms, which did have the benefit of being closest to Luke.  For what he needed to do, that proximity might… help.

Within, the mechanisms helped him remove his mask and helmet and some of his armor, what could be removed without a worse impact on his health.  Going further would require the machines and droids in the medical wing.  This would have to do.

For a moment, he breathed the oxygenated, medicated air, adjusting to breathing with less support.  It was  _always_  an adjustment.  Even without his mask, he got assistance just to breathe, but it was less.  Enough less that he could slow his breathing into a meditative pattern.

It took time and working through the constant pain, but he managed to sink into a trance—without focusing on the Dark side or the negative emotions that fueled it.  This was not a Jedi trance, by any means, not the mindset of a Lightsider, but it was as close as he’d gotten for more than twenty years.

For long minutes, he maintained that state of mind, ensuring he could hold it.  The mindset got easier as time passed, and his meditation deepened.

After an extended period in that neutral state, Vader settled further into the support of his seat—and reached for the Light.


	5. Reactions and Distractions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing on to actually meeting Leia. And her reaction to this situation, of course.

For all that Bestine was what passed for a capital on Tatooine, the greater official presence was in either Mos Eisley or Mos Espa, depending on where there had been more trouble recently.  Those were the ports that criminals headed through.  While the official outpost was in Bestine, few troops were posted there.  Besides, it was close to Jabba’s Palace, and much as Vader hated it, the Hutts did have an arrangement with the Empire.

Bestine was also the closest thing to a luxury destination the desert planet had.  It had a nice place to stay, at least, and Vader had booked the suite where he and Luke waited.  Rather, he’d sent Veers in civilian clothes to book the room; Vader had no intention of letting the irritating Princess find out he was on the planet until she was already in the room.  Bringing Veers into the secrets surrounding this trip had been a risk but a minimal one; he knew he held the general’s loyalty.

Now, Veers was keeping watch somewhere nearby, waiting for what would come of this meeting.

In the suite, Luke was pacing the sitting room.  Vader was sitting in a shadowed corner, out of easy sight with his respirator set to stealth mode.  Normally, he couldn’t leave it that way for an extended period; it was slightly less effective, and the loss of support got very painful all too quickly and would eventually be dangerous.  Now, however…

Much as he disliked admitting it, calling on the Light side of the Force had helped him somehow.  Oh, he wasn’t healed, could no more do without the life support the suit offered than he could have right after Mustafar, but the fight to breathe was a little less painful, a little less of a struggle.  The respirator didn’t have to work quite so hard to force air into his ruined lungs.

The decrease in pain, from even such a small change, was staggering.

He doubted it would ever be enough to free him of dependence on a respirator, but he’d take any improvement he could get after more than twenty years of nothing but bad news where his health was concerned.

Especially now, when he actually had someone to live for.

Though he’d tried, twice, to get Luke to calm down a bit, it hadn’t worked.  In fact, reminding Luke he was there seemed to make the boy’s nerves worse, so he’d stopped trying.  He wasn’t quite willing to offer to leave, much as he disliked seeing the child so upset.

Yoda was back at the estate, much to the old Jedi’s dismay.  He hadn’t wanted to let them leave without his supervision, but the medical droid’s report had dictated that he needed to spend at least a week under care for a late stage illness.  With that care, it was curable.  Without it, the illness would be terminal.  Vader had refused any arguments to come after getting that information, and they’d all known that putting off this meeting too long would only make it more difficult.

Yoda had, eventually, been convinced.  Or at least had conceded that he wasn’t going to win the fight that would be necessary to convince Vader otherwise.  Vader suspected that watching him train his son, in purely Light side techniques and while drawing on the Light himself, had been a big contributing factor to Yoda’s eventual agreement.  He knew it was not something the Order thought a Sith capable of—he’d believed the same, once.  Only his Oath had pushed him to try.

Vader hadn’t said it, but he was relieved Yoda had agreed for more than just keeping the old master alive for his son’s sake.  This meeting was going to be unpleasant enough.

And a knock at the door warned that it was time.  Vader sank further into the shadows in his corner.  Luke had frozen at the sound.  Now, he shot one half-frantic glance over his shoulder at Vader.

_Go on, Kraytling_.

Luke nodded, started for the door, and froze again.  His expression this time was more incredulous than the near panic it had been a moment ago.  Then he shook his head and walked over to open the door.

Vader felt his mouth curve in a small smirk.

“Leia!” Luke grabbed her and hugged her as soon as he got the door open.  

Contrary to Imperial rumors, Vader sensed no hint of romantic feelings between them.  He wasn’t sure what to make of that revelation.

“Come in,” Luke continued.

“What’s this about a new plan?” the princess demanded once she was inside the room with the door shut behind her.  “Chewie and the droids are on the  _Falcon_ , and Lando says everything’s ready at Jabba’s Palace.  Isn’t it a bit late in the planning for you to change everything up?”

“I have a new ally,” the child said slowly.  Vader could  _feel_  the boy choosing every word.  “One who will make rescuing Han go far more smoothly than the original plan.”

“You met someone who wants to join the Rebellion on your last mission?”

Vader’s eyes narrowed, but Luke was already shaking his head.

“No,” Luke said.  “He’s allied to me, not the Rebellion.  He is, like me, from Tatooine.  On this planet, there’s a custom of a type of binding pact, one that you don’t break.  The cultural consequences are…unpleasant.  I tricked him into such a pact, and he considers it as binding as I do, though I didn’t expect all the consequences.”

The princess’s eyes narrowed.  “Who is this person?  What aren’t you telling me?”

“This isn’t a trap.  I haven’t betrayed you.  I swear it.”

“That isn’t making me feel better.”

Luke flinched.

“I believe you,” Leia said with a sigh.  “You know I trust you.”

When Luke took a deep breath and a step back from her, Vader adjusted his respirator back to its standard configuration.  The controls were not designed for him to use with ease, but the Force compensated.  He watched both his child and the princess stiffen at the sound that carried through the room.

_“Vader_.”

“Your Highness.”

She straightened with all the imperious, regal bearing she’d carried in the Senate—or at a court gala.  “What is happening here?” she asked, voice icy.

“The boy told you that.  He tricked me into a pact that is culturally binding for both of us, leaving us as tentative allies.”

The princess’s eyes narrowed.  “He also said that both he and his ‘new ally’ are from Tatooine.  Luke, I knew.  You, I find difficult to believe.”

“Hard to believe or not, it is the truth.”

She took a half step back, eyes wide at that simple answer.  “But you’re—I mean, everyone thinks you’re a former Jedi.”

Luke tensed, but Vader merely rolled his eyes behind his mask.  He’d heard that rumor for years.  “Your point?”

“Jedi were raised in the Order.  Are you  _lying_  to Luke?”

“He isn’t,” Luke said immediately.  “I’d sense it.”  Though he did glance at Vader with a frown.   _I take it that you had a childhood outside the Order wasn’t typical?_

_Yoda and Obi-Wan have told you nothing, then._   He looked back at the princess.  “I am not lying, as he says.  Your friend is quite sensitive to the Force.  He  _would_  know.”

“Then how?  And how would Luke know?  He’s never mentioned it.”

Vader hesitated.  He would not be the one to reveal their shared blood if his son didn’t want her to know of it.

But Luke took a deep breath.  “I found out at Bespin.  He told me, when he told me why he was really chasing me.  But I’d always known he spent his childhood on Tatooine.  I just didn’t connect the knowledge to  _Vader_.  You’re right that he’s a former Jedi, by the way.  Obi-Wan’s old student.  And partner.”  He met the princess’s eyes.  “He’s my father.”

Her eyes widened.  She took a deep breath.  A second one.  “All right.  Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.  Is Darth Vader.”

Though Vader tensed at the sound of his old name, he stifled any response.

“That does explain the shared Tatooine heritage,” she continued after a moment.  “And that you let yourself get tricked into such a pact.”

“My son’s life was at stake,” Vader said quietly.  “I do not consider this pact too great a price to pay.”

“I’m surprised you care.”

Vader stalked forward a step, furious with the arrogant, condescending princess.  “I thought he was dead for twenty years.  When I found out, I pursued him.  But our familial matters are hardly your concern, Your Highness.”

Her chin went up, but she nodded after a moment.  “Fine.  What are the stipulations of this pact?”

“The first one was simple,” Luke said.  “He swore he wouldn’t let me fall.  It was the only way I’d let him pull me up, when I was at risk of literally falling to my death.  But I meant more than just a fall to my death.  I also meant a Fall to the Dark side.  And Father knows it.”

Though Organa flinched at the honorific Luke used, she kept the reaction off her face.  She was very much a politician, and she also latched onto the part of that pact that was causing the current situation.  A situation Vader no longer considered a problem, as such, but was sure would still be considered one at best in the princess’s eyes.

“‘Let,’ you said?” she asked sharply.

“Let,” Vader confirmed.  “I will not break our bargain.  I told Luke as much.”

“He insisted we talk but gave his word he wouldn’t hold me.”

“But you’re still with him?”

“We did talk.  We negotiated, to be precise.  Father is the one who gave his word, but I would not be the one to force him to break that pact without cause.  That is not as culturally prohibited as Father breaking his word would be, but it still…isn’t done.”

“I find it hard to believe a cultural imperative from an Outer Rim planet you haven’t lived on in decades is so binding to you, of all people, Lord  _Vader_.”

“I came to the Order late,” Vader said coldly.  “My childhood was on Tatooine.  Cultural imperatives learned in childhood are not so easily set aside.”

“All right, fine.  I may not understand the cultural imperatives or approve of this situation, but I recognize that a shared cultural background seems to have led here.  Luke said you negotiated.  I take it your presence here on Tatooine is a result of that negotiation?”

“My son wanted your scoundrel rescued.  That is one of my concessions, in return for his agreement to let me train him.”  He held up a hand when the princess bristled.  “In the Light side, Your Highness.  Give him more credit than that.  As you have long suspected and now have confirmed, I have Jedi training.  Between that and the Jedi Master Luke trained under after Hoth, we will manage.”

The princess planted her fists on her hips and glared up at Vader.  “What other terms did the two of you agree to, then?”

“I agreed to stay with him.  Well, on his estate when he’s busy; I’m not going to live on his Star Destroyer.  I’m free to come and go as I please, though I agreed to tell him before I leave, and you, Han, Chewie, and the droids will be welcome to come and go as well.  He and Yoda will both train me.”

The princess looked between Luke and Vader for a moment.  Luke wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she accepted the gesture for a moment.  Then she stepped away and glided to the table by the window.  She sat down, and Luke moved to sit beside her.  Vader watched until she turned and looked at him.  “Join us, Lord Vader.  Tell me your plan for Han.”

After a moment’s pause, Vader nodded slightly and stalked across the room.  He took the third chair and began to explain.


	6. A Tatooine Fairy Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing Han. And an actual fairy tale, as recounted by Luke! One of the stories that form the basis of the Bargain in Tatooine culture. This one is, according to Vader, passed down from Shmi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fairy tale is a bit influenced by Fialleril‘s Tatooine slave culture (is it possible to write about Tatooine culture without a nod to her brilliant work?) but also very much by the traditions of the Summer Court in classic fairy stories.
> 
> This is the last part but for the short epilogue.

Once again, Vader was in the infirmary he’d designed to deal with his own compromised health to arrange care for someone he disliked.  His distaste for the disreputable smuggler was no where near as intense as for the old Jedi who was also still present, but it was still a factor.  Only his son’s fondness for the man mitigated it slightly.

Not enough he was willing to leave, to let Luke, the princess, and Chewbacca explain while he waited elsewhere.  

That wasn’t going to happen, and Luke had had the sense not to argue when Vader said as much.  The princess had been…less understanding, but she was difficult on a good day.  Having her choice in partners present did distract her from the argument eventually.

So for now, he was leaning against the wall near the window, with his respirator pointedly  _not_  in its stealth mode.  Luke had rolled his eyes at that omission, but after a moment, he’d muttered something about it being better than it could have been.

“He’s likely to come out of the carbonite blind,” Vader had pointed out.  “Would you prefer my presence here to come as an unfortunate surprise to him?”

“You  _could_  just leave,” the princess had snapped.

“All right, Father, I take your point.  You’re still doing it partly because you intend to enjoy his reaction.”

“Granted.”

Luke had radiated exasperation but had left it alone.

Chewbacca was leaning against the wall opposite Vader, watching him.  The Wookiee hadn’t been pleased with Vader’s involvement, but seeing him walk out of Jabba’s Palace with the slab of carbonite seemed to have helped a little.  That Chewbacca had taken the revelation of his relationship with Luke as the only clue necessary to figure out his former identity—and worse, remembered him from the Clone Wars—might have helped or might not have.  Vader couldn’t tell.

Not yet.

The princess was the one to thaw the carbonite.  Vader rolled his eyes at her answer when Solo asked who was there.  Yes, he recognized that it followed from their exchange right before he’d frozen the smuggler.  It was still ridiculous.

Then Solo froze.  “Vader?” he whispered.

“I am here, Captain Solo.  I assisted your friends in retrieving you from Jabba’s Palace.  They are not under duress.”  He didn’t move away from the wall.

“He isn’t lying,” Luke said.  “I made a bargain with him.”

“Help me up,” Solo demanded.

Though the princess wrapped an arm around his back and helped him sit up, she refused to help him out of the bed.  “Stay,” she ordered.  “I don’t completely agree with Luke about the lack of duress, but you and I are free to leave whenever we choose.  It is, hard as it seems to believe, safe here.  Lord Vader seems genuinely disinclined to break his pact with Luke.”

“And what’s happened that that makes any kind of sense?” Solo snapped.  “Last I checked, Vader had a bounty on the kid’s head the size of the Core, and the kid wanted to kill him.”

“Bespin changed things,” Luke said quietly.  He walked over, sat down in a chair beside the bed.  “I found out the truth.  He’s my father, Han.”

“What?  You’re sure?”

“I am.  The Force told me he was telling the truth.”

“The  _Force_ , kid?”

His son rolled his eyes.  “Yes, Han.  If that’s too much of a stretch for you, even after knowing me for years, I also got it confirmed from someone who was there when I was born.”

The scoundrel scowled.  “So you have a lousy father.  You’re hardly the only one.  Why does that suddenly mean you’re cooperating with the Emperor’s pet killer?”

“I am still here, Captain Solo.”

“Oh, like you’ve never heard it before, Vader!”

Luke sighed.  “It’s not that simple.  I chose death over surrender, even knowing the truth about Father.  Did you spend enough time on Tatooine to know the local traditions?”

“What local traditions?  Theft, disorder, bounty hunting, murder?”

“No.  It’s tradition among those who actually live there, particularly the slave communities.  Most of the families that lived on Tatooine for more than a generation have slaves in their ancestry somewhere.  There are many versions of the story of the Krayt’s Bargain.”

“Wait.  Krayts are giant lizards.  They can’t bargain with  _anyone_.”

“It’s a legend, Han.  A story.  Do you want to hear this or not?”

“Never thought fairy tales and Darth Vader would be mentioned in the same conversation.  Fine, kid.  Tell me your story.”

“I’ll summarize,” Luke said dryly.  “One that’s very common is the story of how a teenage slave was about to be sold away from his family.  His girlfriend was three months pregnant, and he was desperate not to be sold off planet.  He walked out into the desert one night, praying for anything that would let him get away from his master.  The implant in both he and his girlfriend kept them from just running.”

Solo settled back into his pillows.  Though still functionally blind, he was “looking” in Luke’s general direction.  Chewbacca relaxed against the wall, comfortable enough to listen.  The princess stared at Vader’s son as if she’d never seen him before, as if this was a side of the child she’d never suspected.  Vader almost smiled.  His son was well-versed in Tatooine’s traditions, traditions he hadn’t heard since he was a child.  It was almost pleasant to hear the stories his mother had told him again.  This story was one passed down from Shmi.

“He met a krayt under the moons.  The krayt asked him why he was out under the moons alone, and he was too desperate not to tell.  He expected the krayt to kill him, but the krayt offered him a bargain.  If he stayed with the krayt for four months, the krayt would make sure he could free both himself and his chosen mate.

“Though he expected to die when his implant exploded, he took a chance on putting his faith in what the moons had offered him.  He climbed up on the krayt and let it take him down below the desert cliffs, deep into the earth.  His implant never activated, and he lived those four months in the glowing caverns the krayt called home, tending to its young.  At the end of the four months, the krayt offered him a pearl and told him to take it with the krayt’s blessings on both him and his children to be.

“The slave returned to town with the pearl and sold it to off-worlders, then arranged to have his own contract and his girlfriend’s bought out.  He still had enough credits left to purchase them a small house and start a business as a mechanic, and his children were raised to respect the krayts.

“Of course, the story got around town.  A wealthy young man heard it.  In some versions, he’s the son of the first teen’s former master.  He decides that he can do anything a slave can, so he gathers supplies for four months in the desert and goes.  The krayt finds him, and he asks for aid, just as the slave had.  The krayt offers the same bargain, four months of service in exchange for what he needs for freedom.  The wealthy young man agrees and stays with the krayt for four months, though he refuses to go near the young.  That wasn’t part of the bargain, he says.

“At the end of four months, the krayt takes him back to the surface and fills his hands with sand.  It is what he needs to be free, the krayt tells him.  Free of his greed, of his lies, of his laziness.  Then the krayt leaves him to get back to town on his own, none the richer for his four months.”

It was odd how fitting the story Luke had chosen was for them.  Not that Vader would ever say as much, certainly not to the smuggler.  But it did fit.  It was easy to relax against the wall and listen, especially as he was drawing on the Light side of the Force.

Luke fell silent for a moment and glanced at Vader with a slight smile, one Vader almost wished he could return.  He sent a cautious brush of affection through their bond instead and felt something close to joy when Luke beamed at him.  

Then the impossible child focused back on his friend.  “There are other stories, of course.  Stories of people who break their bargains with a krayt, even kill it.  All those who try meet appropriate ends.  On Tatooine, it is not done to break a bargain with a krayt, nor for the krayt to break a bargain with a Tatooine native who makes it in good faith.  They’re called Krayt’s Bargains, and they are not entered into nor broken lightly.

“Both Father and I are from Tatooine, and it is a Krayt’s Bargain we made.  I may have tricked him into it, but he agreed.  Neither of us will break it lightly.”


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A final scene, a few weeks after the main events.

Vader strode from his ship to the door of the estate.  For the first time since he’d left the  _Executor_  to return here, after having had to return to work for three weeks, his fears eased.  The entire three weeks he’d been gone, he’d had to suppress the fear that he’d return to the estate to find Luke had gone.  That he’d left while the princess and the smuggler were still there had only made those fears worse; they hadn’t approved of Luke’s choices.

But now that he was on planet, heading for the estate, he could sense his son.  Luke’s presence was better shielded than it had been when they first made their bargain, but Vader’s bond to the boy was likewise stronger.  The child was here.  If he’d left while Vader was gone, he’d come back.

A weight on his chest he’d lived with for three weeks, one that had seemed to undo the good calling on the Light side had done him, eased.  His breaths came a little easier, no longer fighting the respirator’s support.  That was a relief, too—though a minor one in comparison to the thought of losing his son.

So his mood was far lighter than might have been expected when he stepped into the estate and traced his son’s presence to a lounge on the second floor, overlooking the back of the estate.  The view was lovely, perhaps explaining why the boy had chosen that room.  Not that either Vader’s lighter mood or the lovely view helped when he walked into the room to see the Rebel Princess, the smuggler Captain, Chewbacca, and his son relaxing around the room.

The silence that filled the room when he stepped inside was heavy, made all the worse by being broken only by the sound of his respirator.  Vader was at a loss for how to react, and he loathed that feeling.

But Luke wasn’t caught by the same indecision.  He smiled openly and rose, crossing the room to stand in front of Vader.  The heavy silence didn’t seem to bother him.  “Welcome home, Father.”

“Son.”

“Want to spar?”

Vader almost laughed.

_Impossible_  child.  Impossible, precious child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to ArdentAspen2 for the prompt and to KaelinaLovesLomaris for reading it over for me and being patient with my venting when it wasn't going well.


End file.
